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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Preparedness Wednesday: Costco and Inventory

Last weekend when I was at Costco I picked up a food storage items. I got a 45 lb bucket of Lehi Roller Mills white wheat for $12.99 (at 29 cents per pound that is the cheapest that I have EVER seen it), a 3 lb bag of Craisins (there's a $3 off coupon at the front of the store that's good until 1/24/11) for $3.99 and a 5 quart bottle of vegetable oil for $6.29. I read of a man who lived in Germany after WWII, and he said that vegetable oil was the most valuable food item. With it one could acquire nearly any other desirable item. A quart of vegetable oil could trade for 3 bushels of apples or 300lbs of potatoes. It has a long shelf life (he said his lasted for 20 years and still tasted fine), it has a high caloric content and can be used to improve the flavor of many other foods (and non-typical foods such as roots of shrubs and wild plants). He recommended grain as second highest in priority and Craisins are probably the most popular food storage item with Thing 2. So three good food storage items for about $25.
As for the doing this week I took an inventory. Between buying, moving three times and using my food storage in the past two years, I wasn't certain how much I have, and I need to know that before I go crazy purchasing any one item. If you go to this link there is a calculator that can give you a basic idea of how much you need depending on the number of family members and their ages.